Sneaking Out in the Night

 FEW HOURS later, Temari was on the door of her room with her ear pressed against it. After making sure that it was dead quiet, she slowly opened the door and stepped outside her assigned room.

 She stood there for a few seconds, letting her eyes adjust to the hallway that was way darker than her room. The candles used to light the way are all about to die already. It didn't deter Temari. She began to walk while keeping her body almost pressed against the wall.

Not long after, she was able to get into a closed door. She knew there was no guest inside. She was the only guest in this side of the castle since no one else went into this side when the royal ball ended earlier.

[Now let's see, what's in this room.]

Temari looked on her left and right. There is no one in sight and it was too quiet that she could hear her own breathing. She relaxed a little and focused her attention to the door in front of her. She kneeled until she was eye level with the keyhole. Then she inserted her master key and began to carefully twist it left to right, right to left, feeling the way the thin iron stick mold to the way the lock inside the keyhole was made.

After a moment, she heard a light click and she smiled. The door unlocked. She stood and held the door handle. She inhaled and then slowly opened the door, just enough so she could peek inside. The room didn't seem to have any humans inside. It was too quiet and it has a scent of a room that hasn't been opened for a long time. No sign or smell of candles but the room was not totally dark.

She opened the door a little wider and she saw that at the far side of the room, there was a huge floor to ceiling window. The light from the moon outside was pouring inside the room, giving it enough light. Temari finally stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her.

"Am I in a storage room or something?" She began to walk as she look around. All the furniture in the room were covered with a white cloth. The rest of the things all looked like they were just thrown here without care. There were old chairs and round tables, candle holders, wash basins, vases and paintings.

"Is that royal heirloom here?" Temari continued to talk to herself as she walked around the room. She didn't know what she was looking for exactly but she assumed the heirloom must be something shiny. She opened drawers of old cabinets, lifted white cloths to look inside and even went on her knees to check if there are small boxes she could find under the huge furniture. She even lifted the thick carpet, thinking that there might be a hidden cabinet on the floor or something.

She found nothing that might be the royal heirloom. She sighed and was about to stand when she heard a creaking sound.

Temari stopped breathing and her eyes widened. She was thankful that she was hidden by a huge table covered in white cloth because Temari was sure that someone was opening the door to the room. She silently crouched lower to the carpeted floor. The room was too quiet that she could hear footsteps despite the thick carpet.

Someone is inside the room. Someone was sneaking through the night just like her. She moved forward as slowly as she can so she can peek through the legs of the table. Temari's heart slammed against her chest when she saw that the person who entered the room was wearing a black cloak. The cloth prevented her from seeing whether it was a he or a she.

 The urge to know more gripped her and she moved again, intending to lift herself up from the floor. But her body brushed against the table in the process and it moved with a creaking sound. The stranger stopped moving and for a second, Temari's heart did too. Then the stranger run out of the room.

 Temari didn't think. She was consumed by instinct and adrenaline. She sprang to her feet and ran after the cloaked stranger. She went out of the room and heard the running footsteps to the right side of the hallway. She quickly closed and locked the door and ran after the stranger.

She turned a corner and she saw a shadow turning to the left. She followed the shadow but when she turned to that corner she gasped and stopped abruptly. There was a huge window few meters in front of Temari and it was open, the curtains flying due to the wind outside.

She slowly approached the window, her heart beating too fast against her chest that it was hard for her to breathe. She looked down and a shiver run down her spine. She was probably seven stories above the ground and she couldn't see the cloaked stranger anywhere.

"Who was that?" she muttered. "Why was that person inside the room and ran away when I made a noise?"

Temari stepped back from the window and was about to turn around to go to where she came from when she noticed another hallway to the left of the window. Her eyes narrowed. What if the stranger didn't actually jumped off the window and just opened it to confuse her? She was not that stupid.

She took a few steps toward the hallway and realized that it was narrower than all the hallways she's been through inside the castle. There was also something about it that makes it hard for her to breathe, as if she was entering an enclosed space without air.

The more Temari walked, the heavier she feels. For a moment she had a thought of just walking back. But then, she saw a door at the end of the narrow hallway and she decided to continue. She didn't stop walking even though it feels like it was taking her too much time getting to that door even though it looked near.

Temari sighed in relief when she finally got a hold of the door handle. It was strange but she felt tired, as if it took her hours to get here. She took a deep breath and slowly turned the handle. It was open. Perhaps the stranger really went inside and not out of the window?

She swallowed, opened the door, and slipped inside. Her back was still on the room as she slowly closed the door but not fully. She took off one of her shoes and used it as a wedge so the door will remain slightly open. Then she finally turned to the room and froze.

It was a huge room. Bigger than anything she has ever seen. It was too big that the single candle on top of a table at the far corner couldn't fully lighten up the room. There were still dark spaces.

It was in one of those dark space that a masculine, cold, and familiar voice said dryly, "You entered the wrong room, my lady."